Last weekend I learned my name was not on any of the voter list in my city. This left me feeling like a stranger in my own body.
You see, the new voter ID l received a few weeks ago seemed in order but upon checking with the Board of Elections (BOE), I learned not only was I no longer listed but the ID number had been given to woman of a different ethnic group who lives in another county.
The BOE clerk told me I would have to come to the main offices and re-register.
On Tuesday I went to the BOE. They checked again, confirming I was no longer listed. In fact all previous voting under my name was gone.
That meant Re-Registering.
What if I hadn’t listened to the quiet yet demanding impulse to Check My Status? I cringe just thinking that thought.
What is your Status? Do you really know?
PLEASE CHECK YOUR STATUS. This is the most important #Vote of your life. Your vote is needed. Your vote matters.
Do not take for granted that you are registered. Call your local BOE and check. You may also check online to vote.org and vote.gov.
Trust me. You don’t want to feel the out-of-body experience I felt and, to some extent, still feel.
Learning that my name had been purged—by whomever and whatever laws—caused me to think of my ancestors, of Black and Brown folk who got the right to
vote via the 15th and 19th amendments but still weren’t allowed to vote. African Americans generally didn’t get the right to vote until The Civil Rights act of 1965.
I think about my grandmother who probably voted for the first time when I voted the first time. I was 18 and she was around 60.
I have a sense of how my ancestors felt. Anger is insufficient in describing how I felt, and how they, also, must have felt. Lost. No identity. Tired. BUT, I never thought of giving up. I would have done whatever necessary to legally restore my voting rights. And, I did by re-registering.
My ancestors did not give up. They continued to March, hold meetings about voting with everyone—men and women—who wanted to vote. They published articles and placed ads in newspapers encouraging women and men to register to vote. White mobs did everything they could get away with to discourage and outright stop people from registering and then voting. People died but we never gave up that right.
I AM REGISTERED NOW. I will vote in November.
Will you?
SUMMARY: YOUR VOTE MATTERS. CHECK TO MAKE SURE YOU HAVEN’T BEEN PURGED.